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Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation

Name: Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation
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3.4 of 5 Stars: History & Culture - Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation

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Book Synopsis: Meet the people who design the algorithms that capture our musical tastes. The people who make music recommender systems have lofty goals: they want to broaden listeners’ horizons and help obscure musicians find audiences, taking advantage of the enormous catalogs offered by companies like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora. But for their critics, recommender systems seem to embody all the potential harms of algorithms: they flatten culture into numbers, they normalize ever-broadening data collection, and they profile their users for commercial ends. Drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork, anthropologist Nick Seaver describes how the makers of music recommendation navigate these tensions: how product managers understand their relationship with the users they want to help and to capture; how scientists conceive of listening itself as a kind of data processing; and how engineers imagine the geography of the world of music as a space they care for and control. Computing Taste rehumanizes the algorithmic systems that shape our world, drawing attention to the people who build and maintain them. In this vividly theorized book, Seaver brings the thinking of programmers into conversation with the discipline of anthropology, opening up the cultural world of computation in a wide-ranging exploration that travels from cosmology to calculation, myth to machine learning, and captivation to care.

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Are you tired of sifting through endless playlists and recommendations that don't quite hit the mark? Look no further than Computing Taste: Algorithms and the Makers of Music Recommendation. This groundbreaking book takes you behind the scenes to meet the brilliant minds who design the algorithms that capture our musical tastes.

With the rise of music streaming platforms like Spotify, Apple Music, and Pandora, the need for accurate and personalized recommendations has never been greater. The makers of music recommender systems have one goal in mind: to broaden your horizons and help you discover new music that resonates with your unique taste.

But we understand if you're skeptical – after all, algorithms can sometimes feel cold and impersonal. That's where Computing Taste comes in. Drawing on years of ethnographic fieldwork, anthropologist Nick Seaver sheds light on how these algorithmic systems are created and the motivations behind them.

What sets Computing Taste apart is its human-centered approach. Seaver brings the thinking of programmers into conversation with the discipline of anthropology, giving us a vividly theorized exploration that delves into cosmology, calculation, myth, machine learning, and captivation to care. By understanding the people behind the algorithms, we rehumanize the very systems that shape our world.

Ready to dive into the fascinating world of music recommendation? Click here and embark on a journey that will forever change the way you discover music.

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